Who is Justin Knox, and why do Alabama and UAB care?

Justin Knox averaged 11 points and seven rebounds in Alabama's final five games last season. (Jeff Roberts / The Birmingham News)Have so many words ever been spent over a three-year basketball player coming off an average of 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds? Such is the case of Justin Knox, whose attempted transfer from Alabama to UAB produced the unthinkable today: a UAB women's basketball article as the lead story in The Birmingham News sports section.

It's news because UAB has always felt like it's treated poorly as the stepchild in the university system.

But it's also news because Knox is 6 feet 9, 240 pounds and, believe it or not, could significantly help one of these teams on the basketball court next season.

To briefly recap: Knox's uncle tells The Birmingham News that Alabama was blocking his possible transfer to UAB. The uncle claims the Knox family was told by Alabama that the university system has a rule or agreement that no athletes will transfer within the system, yet an Alabama women's basketball player just transferred to UAB. Alabama eventually says it releases scholarship players on a case-by-case basis. Citing an anonymous source, The Mobile Press-Register reports that Alabama strongly suspects UAB tampered in Knox's decision to leave Tuscaloosa by contacting him prior to seeking written permission from Alabama.

So why the fuss over Knox? Because he has shown flashes, albeit briefly, of being a productive player. Although he hasn't done much in three years in Tuscaloosa, it's easy to forget Knox was the state of Alabama's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2007. Don't misunderstand: Knox wasn't heavily recruited. He was ranked 113th by Rivals.com in the class of 2007.

But very late in the season, Knox came on. In Alabama's final five games, he averaged 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 25.6 minutes and shot 48.8%. There was an 11-rebound game against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament. There were games against South Carolina of 16 points/seven rebounds and 17 points/seven rebounds. There was a 12-point, five-rebound game in only 18 minutes against Ole Miss.

Those are numbers, if maintained over an entire season, that any SEC team would crave. Post players who can produce like that don't grow on trees. UAB loses two post players from last year in Kenneth Cooper and Howard Crawford. Not to mention UAB has had Academic Progress Rate problems in recent years, so adding a player and student such as Knox -- the SEC men's basketball scholar-athlete of the year -- is also a plus off the court.

There's no given Knox would be able to keep up his on-court pace. But his flashes of success help explain why the petty Alabama-UAB rivalry reached such a public stage over a relatively unknown player.